Anyone else pissed off?

[penbeast0]

Anyone else pissed off that Andre Drummond who is averaging 17.5 points and 13.5 rebounds gets a nudge, nudge, wink, wink buyout so he can go to the Lakers for the minimum and not count against their cap?

[jayjaysee]

I’m okay that person is going to get in AD’s way and let defenses crowd the paint on Lebron.

Id be more worried if they sign Dieng, who actually plays winning basketball and fits with their stars.

As a Dallas fan, it doesn’t really matter. We are not beating them no matter what. But yeah, Dieng would have been the better target.

[chrbal]

More like annoyed. Blake and Andre took it easy this season to set this up. There’s part of me that wishes the pistons just let him stay home and not say anything about it.

But for the most part, the guys getting bought out are pretty much on the way out of the nba anyway.

[KuruptedCav]

Anyone else pissed off that Andre Drummond who is averaging 17.5 points and 13.5 rebounds gets a nudge, nudge, wink, wink buyout so he can go to the Lakers for the minimum and not count against their cap?

Peja Stojakovich, Derek Fisher, Boris Diaw. Nope


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[Scoot McGroot]

Not in the slightest.

[loserX]

Yes, unless someone wants to get bought out and sign with Utah for the minimum

In general, not really. This does come up almost every year. Someone on this board suggested that, for post-deadline buyouts only, there should be a bidding system like the amnesty waivers. Every team can "bid" on a buyout player, so if all you have left is the veteran minimum, that's all you can offer. If the Knicks (for instance) step in and offer $3M of their capspace for Drummond and nobody else can or will beat it, he goes to New York to finish the season.

I thought that was clever. Doesn't prevent contenders from landing bought-out players (they may need to in case of injury!), but it does mean that 1st-place teams can't just make wink-wink deals with agents beforehand.

[jbk1234]

Yes, unless someone wants to get bought out and sign with Utah for the minimum

In general, not really. This does come up almost every year. Someone on this board suggested that, for post-deadline buyouts only, there should be a bidding system like the amnesty waivers. Every team can "bid" on a buyout player, so if all you have left is the veteran minimum, that's all you can offer. If the Knicks (for instance) step in and offer $3M of their capspace for Drummond and nobody else can or will beat it, he goes to New York to finish the season.

I thought that was clever. Doesn't prevent contenders from landing bought-out players (they may need to in case of injury!), but it does mean that 1st-place teams can't just make wink-wink deals with agents beforehand.

I'd add a minimum buyout requirement. If there's a maximum amount a player can give up, there should be a minimum amount that a player is required to give up if that player wants to go play for another team.

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[Scoot McGroot]

Yes, unless someone wants to get bought out and sign with Utah for the minimum

In general, not really. This does come up almost every year. Someone on this board suggested that, for post-deadline buyouts only, there should be a bidding system like the amnesty waivers. Every team can "bid" on a buyout player, so if all you have left is the veteran minimum, that's all you can offer. If the Knicks (for instance) step in and offer $3M of their capspace for Drummond and nobody else can or will beat it, he goes to New York to finish the season.

I thought that was clever. Doesn't prevent contenders from landing bought-out players (they may need to in case of injury!), but it does mean that 1st-place teams can't just make wink-wink deals with agents beforehand.

It’s fair for the teams, but takes any and all free will from the players from their own “free agency”. If someone wasnts to claim their contract on waivers, they’re free to do so. But these guys have no chance to say “I’d love to be by my kids in xyz to finish the season, even if it costs me money” or whatnot in that hypothetical.

[psimanic1]

Yes, unless someone wants to get bought out and sign with Utah for the minimum

In general, not really. This does come up almost every year. Someone on this board suggested that, for post-deadline buyouts only, there should be a bidding system like the amnesty waivers. Every team can "bid" on a buyout player, so if all you have left is the veteran minimum, that's all you can offer. If the Knicks (for instance) step in and offer $3M of their capspace for Drummond and nobody else can or will beat it, he goes to New York to finish the season.

I thought that was clever. Doesn't prevent contenders from landing bought-out players (they may need to in case of injury!), but it does mean that 1st-place teams can't just make wink-wink deals with agents beforehand.

You really think bidding would work after BLM? They had issues with owners, and you want to bid on players?
I mean, nothing against BLM, just so someone woudnt think I have something against it, but you would have Kyrie first talking about it.. Lets not complicate it, add something like you have to give that player 1/3 or 1/2 of his latest contract and start with that, to see what happens. Other way would be to cut off buyout market buyers, putting players in tiers would help, so higher FAs would be able to sign with lover seeded teams and lower FAs would be able to sign with higher ranked teama. That could also start issues with players and teams, but lower risk than bidding war I guess

Create storage unit wars, you buy unit with player in it without knowing which player is in

Or create draft, with teams having higher cap getting higher pick, if they still dont pick BPA, well... We have to live with it...

[Resistance]

I don't think that it is possible to have a more stringent process without going into the CBA and the players will be reluctant to agree to those changes.

[jbk1234]

Yes, unless someone wants to get bought out and sign with Utah for the minimum

In general, not really. This does come up almost every year. Someone on this board suggested that, for post-deadline buyouts only, there should be a bidding system like the amnesty waivers. Every team can "bid" on a buyout player, so if all you have left is the veteran minimum, that's all you can offer. If the Knicks (for instance) step in and offer $3M of their capspace for Drummond and nobody else can or will beat it, he goes to New York to finish the season.

I thought that was clever. Doesn't prevent contenders from landing bought-out players (they may need to in case of injury!), but it does mean that 1st-place teams can't just make wink-wink deals with agents beforehand.

It’s fair for the teams, but takes any and all free will from the players from their own “free agency”. If someone wasnts to claim their contract on waivers, they’re free to do so. But these guys have no chance to say “I’d love to be by my kids in xyz to finish the season, even if it costs me money” or whatnot in that hypothetical.

Here's my problem with that, Drummond had a player option. He was free to exercise it before the season began. He didn't. He could've been a good soldier when the Cavs told him they were starting Allen. He wasn't. The Cavs could've used him off the bench. Instead, the Cavs are paying, at least part of, the delta between the league minimum and his market value - so he can play for the Lakers.

And it's all well and good to talk about player empowerment and freedom of movement, but that's not what's happening. Players are taking as much guaranteed money, for as many years as they can get, and then deciding they'd like to play elsewhere while still under contract. I mean Drummond is going to be a free agent this summer.

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[Audi]

I’m ready for this micro-era of the game, with stars are conspiring to play together, to be over. Championships will remain to seem less prestigious until a new generation of stars decides that building organically and winning without forming super teams is what best builds a legacy.

[AingesBurner]

I’m ready for this micro-era of the game, with stars are conspiring to play together, to be over. Championships will remain to seem less prestigious until a new generation of stars decides that building organically and winning without forming super teams is what best builds a legacy.

Utah is your only hope then.

[HornetJail]

I'm not a fan of the buyout system at all. IMO it's total circumvention of the cap, and only allows the rich to get richer. I think if a player bails on a team midseason, he should carry his previous cap figure for that season. Or at least it gets split between the old club and the new club based on how many games they played with the old club. Players shouldn't be rewarded for bailing on the team they're contracted to play for. If you really want out and your contract doesn't allow you to go to a good team, then forgo the rest of your contract.

Imagine if Toronto's season goes south and they decide to "do right" by Kyle Lowry and buy him out so he can join the Lakers or something and get another ring. Now that would actually upset the balance. I don't care about Drummond. He can clog the lane for LeBron and Davis and attempt post-ups all he wants.

[babyjax13]

I think that a solution could be either: a team has to send picks and a predetermined percentage of the remaining salary to the team they are signing a player from, or there is a 'third round' of the draft where if a team has to buy out a player they get 'x' amount of picks (maybe not all in the same year). Or maybe some kind of priority system for signing gleague players. There are always some nice UDFA guys, so I think this would give a realistic chance of finding some long-term role players. e.g. Jae'Sean Tate was a UDFA (UD in 2018) and he is averaging 10/5/2 on good percentages this season. Paul Reed looks nice, etc. There is always someone.

[HornetJail]

I think that a solution could be either: a team has to send picks and a predetermined percentage of the remaining salary to the team they are signing a player from, or there is a 'third round' of the draft where if a team has to buy out a player they get 'x' amount of picks (maybe not all in the same year). Or maybe some kind of priority system for signing gleague players. There are always some nice UDFA guys, so I think this would give a realistic chance of finding some long-term role players. e.g. Jae'Sean Tate was a UDFA (UD in 2018) and he is averaging 10/5/2 on good percentages this season. Paul Reed looks nice, etc. There is always someone.

nah this only incentivizes the bad teams to buy out any and all useful vets on a team so they can go and join a title favorite. Completely screws with the parity of the league. You think any of the useful buyout guys are going to a 4-10 seed to help a 1st round team become a 2nd round team? Nope, they're gonna bolt straight for an LA team, Brooklyn, Philly, maybe Milwaukee or Utah. Everybody else gets screwed.

and since everyone likes to get big mad about tanking, it incentivizes that too.

[Patsfan1081]

Yeah it’s messed up but it’s in a line of things needed changing to fix the parity issue.

[ecuhus1981]

I think that a solution could be either: a team has to send picks and a predetermined percentage of the remaining salary to the team they are signing a player from, or there is a 'third round' of the draft where if a team has to buy out a player they get 'x' amount of picks (maybe not all in the same year). Or maybe some kind of priority system for signing gleague players. There are always some nice UDFA guys, so I think this would give a realistic chance of finding some long-term role players. e.g. Jae'Sean Tate was a UDFA (UD in 2018) and he is averaging 10/5/2 on good percentages this season. Paul Reed looks nice, etc. There is always someone.

nah this only incentivizes the bad teams to buy out any and all useful vets on a team so they can go and join a title favorite. Completely screws with the parity of the league. You think any of the useful buyout guys are going to a 4-10 seed to help a 1st round team become a 2nd round team? Nope, they're gonna bolt straight for an LA team, Brooklyn, Philly, maybe Milwaukee or Utah. Everybody else gets screwed.

and since everyone likes to get big mad about tanking, it incentivizes that too.

Gorgui Dieng just signed with San Antonio after Memphis bought out his expiring contract. It's not the norm, but he certainly is proof that it happens.

To answer the OP, no, I'm not upset at all!

[Resistance]

If Drummond was older and near the end of his career, I think that he would accept the role given to him by the Lakers.

Since he is wanting/hoping for a big contract in the offseason, he could have difficulty putting the needs of the team above his likely thoughts that he needs to put up stats to strengthen his negotiating position for a new contract.

[shrink]

Why does the CBA even allow bought out players to go help contenders anyway? We have a trade deadline to set team rosters on a given date, so why are buyouts later?

And players sign contracts to play for a full year for a team. If a team buys them out, and they accept, why do we allow them to just go help another team, rather than be ineligible for the length of the contract? I wouldn’t pity the player who couldn’t switch teams, and was “forced” to sit on a beach and count the money they are getting for doing nothing.

Big markets, particularly big market contenders, already have a huge advantage. Why do we allow small markets to see the trade value they might get squeezed out of existence?

I understand that it’s rare for a team to truly get a great player this way, but they can add a player or two that might be enough to switch a game in a seven game series.

Finally, the CBA use salary for parity, so these vet min signings hurt parity even more, benefiting teams who already have a pretty big advantage. Players can get their big contract from a team they don’t like, dog it, get the most of the money, and still go join a contender for the playoffs. It’s a system that could see worse abuses in the future.